Santa Ana temple picking up after fire destroys kitchen

SANTA ANA – Even as members of the Temple Beth Sholom surveyed damage Sunday from a fire that ripped through the kitchen Saturday morning and caused some $300,000 in damages, the black soot and ash didn’t seem to dampen their spirit.

Sparked from an electrical malfunction of a refrigerator, the fire spread quickly through the kitchen where volunteers prepare meals every Sunday to be served to the county’s homeless. Temple President Lynn Matassarin said from 300 to 1,000 homeless people are fed each Sunday.

It took firefighters about an hour to knock down the fire, but they were able to keep it from spreading to the Temple’s sanctuary and saved the historic Torah scrolls. No one was injured in the blaze.

The kitchen, however, was a total loss, including about $100,000 worth of appliances and kitchen supplies. The structural damage was estimated at $200,000. Electricity also was knocked out, leaving the entire temple in the dark.

“It’s a real drag,” said Marla Vaughter, a longtime congregation member and office manager at the temple. “We’re taking it one day at a time. But everyone here is really pulling together.”

Matassarin said its roughly 40 kitchen volunteers were offered the use of facilities by owners at Parties by Panache, a Brea-based event planning business and caterer who told them they could prepare meals there until the temple’s kitchen is rebuilt. The temple’s preschool, located in an undamaged building on the property, will close at least Tuesday (after the Monday holiday) as crews continue the clean-up process.

Multiple Jewish temples came forward after hearing about the fire, Matassarin said, to offer their own facilities for services, which are usually held Fridays and Saturdays. The congregation is made up of about 500 families, according to Matassarin.

“We really received an outpouring of support that I can’t tell you how much we appreciate,” she said. “We’ll know more after Tuesday about where and when services will be held.”

But as Vaughter and other members of the congregation gathered Sunday morning to help direct restoration and clean-up crews, they spotted a beacon of hope.

In the still darkness of the sanctuary, the temple’s Ner Tamid remained lit.

It doesn’t matter that this temple’s Ner Tamid is solar-powered and therefore unaffected by the power outage, Cohen said; it represents the spirit of the congregation, past and present.

“A congregation is more than a building,” Cohen said. “It’s the people working with their hands and with their hearts. That’s why the light is still shining. No matter what, fire can’t extinguish the soul of our congregation.”

Founded in 1943 as the first Reform Jewish temple in Orange County, Temple Beth Sholom was originally made up of 25 families who met in the home of one of its members. In 1945, the congregation occupied its first building at the corner of Eighth and Bush streets in Santa Ana. But in 1962, the temple moved to its current location on North Tustin Avenue, and the property had significant remodeling during the ‘90s.

“A building is just a building,” Matassarin said. “We can do all of the things we do anywhere. The most important thing is that everyone is safe.”